Why Do World of Warcraft Players Wonder Why the Game Still Requires a Paid Subscription?

The Decline of World of Warcraft: A Player’s Perspective

World of Warcraft, once a titan in the gaming industry, seems to be on a downward spiral. The frequency and quality of updates have dwindled, and the community is left wondering why. A significant part of this decline can be attributed to the ongoing scandal at Blizzard Entertainment. From the latest news and accusations, it’s evident that substantial updates may not be on the horizon, including the highly anticipated 9.1 update, which players have been waiting for for four months now.

Players on Reddit have raised a valid question: why does World of Warcraft continue to charge a subscription fee when the game’s content updates are so scarce? Many players faithfully renew their subscriptions, yet new content is scarce. A forum thread on this topic garnered over 15,000 likes and extensive discussion.

“We’re left without meaningful content for extended periods, sometimes over a year. And when we do finally get a substantial content drop, it turns out to be another paid expansion for $40. What exactly are we paying for with our subscriptions now? I mean, the absence of an in-game store is no longer a privilege, as we were told during the F2P discussion. Just a thought.”

I want to clarify a few things since my initial comments about the purpose of this post got lost in the shuffle. The discussion became so heated that I can’t keep up, and I’ve even received some backlash. I unsubscribed from Shadowlands a month after its release.

The reason behind my frustration is that World of Warcraft was my main game and a significant part of my life for over a decade, with most of my youth spent in its virtual realms. I started near the end of Vanilla and began feeling fatigued around Warlords of Draenor. I would take breaks for many months, only to return when the itch resurfaced.

Everything changed this year when the itch returned. I wanted some nostalgia, a bit of WoW once more, maybe a couple of weeks of fun with friends. But for the first time, I couldn’t bring myself to log in. It felt wrong, questioning whether I should pay a subscription for access to content I had already paid for. Why should I pay just to access content I once purchased?

My character – it will never truly be mine. It’s rented. And yes, some might say this is a revelation, but I know it’s nothing special. But if I simply want to revisit and play the game I once bought and invested so much in, I have to shell out €12.99 just for access to my character. In 2021. It’s one of the last games standing with this type of monetization.

That’s when I felt the need to write this post and ask: What am I even paying for here, compared to everything else on the market? I can log into many other MMOs or game services whenever I want and progress through content at my own pace and schedule. No unnecessary hoops to jump through, no fear of losing subscription money if I step away, and so on.

This is what I wanted to discuss in the comments. Unfortunately, it ended with an overwhelming number of comments and personal attacks for questioning the unusual choice of monetization and comparing content release schedules and in-game monetization (store, boosts, tokens) with other games. It’s disheartening, sigh. That’s all, folks.